Sabrea's Story
by Sabrea
Summary: Just one of those Lion King fan-fictions, although it does depart a bit from the actual movie. This is about my character, Sabrea, and the events of her life.
1. Prologue

SABREA'S STORY  
by A. Kroken  
  
  
Author's Notes  
  
The characters Kovu and Nuka are © Disney, used without permission.  
Characters that are not mine which belong to fellow fans are used with permission. They include: Razuma, Kumari (more to come)   
All other characters are © myself.  
  
This story is based on my own experiences and role playing with the Lion King fan community. Some events that take place depart a bit from the actual movie, so please try to keep your mind open.   
  
--  
  
  
Prologue  
  
During Mufasa's reign of the Pridelands, a young lioness fell in love with a turned leopard of the Kitisho clan. Kitisho was known for it's malicious murders of the innocent. The leopard was killed by his own brothers for his betrayal, but not before he impregnated the lioness.   
  
She left Mufasa's pride upon realization of her pregnancy, and became a rouge. She gave birth to 3 cubs, the youngest female named Cassea. The Kitisho leopards sought out her and her cubs, and killed all but Cassea, who had been well hidden at the time.   
  
A young rouge lion who had just began life on his own, Kunda, discovered the young leopard-lion cub, Cassea, and decided to keep her fed. As she grew into a beautiful adult, Kunda gradually fell in love with her. The two waited some time, to make sure their love was true to last, and then they had one cub. They named her Sabrea.  



	2. Innocence

CHAPTER 1: Innocence  
  
  
Cassea struggled to groom a stubborn and frustrated Sabrea's fur. Sabrea was determined to run off and play in the tall grass field that surrounded her parent's den. Every time she went to play, she would return covered in grass seed and burs, and once again, Cassea would have to groom her fur.  
  
"Mommmmm!" Sabrea whined as Cassea roughly licked the fur on top of her head. "Come on, let me go!"  
  
Cassea sighed at her daughters constant pleas. "Oh go on," Cassea said. She let her go and gave her a nudge with her paw. "You'll just come back even worse anyway."  
  
"Yeeeeah!" Sabrea shouted, bounding away.   
  
"Don't go far!" Cassea called after Sabrea. "I doubt she heard me," Cassea thought with a smile, as she climbed up the rock ledge a bit to sit in the sun and keep a better eye on Sabrea as she played in the field.   
  
Secretly, Cassea wished she could have grown up like Sabrea. Her own mate ended up raising her, and cub life consisted of staying hidden at all times. Kunda hadn't perfected his hunting skill back then, and was constantly out on the hunt since it took so long. Cassea couldn't really play much. But she loved the times when Kunda was back at the tiny den and he didn't have to hunt. She longed for the days he'd return from the hunt with a good kill. Despite their age difference, the two played like best friends until the sun had set, and then they'd look at the stars together for hours. Cassea fondly remembered the times a cool breeze would pick up, and she could snuggle to Kunda's fur. She loved him in so many ways. Like a father, like a brother, and ultimately, as a mate.  
  
Cassea's thoughts drifted off as she heard Kunda's laughter. She looked down into the field. He'd returned home, and was now chasing Sabrea. At one point he must have caught her, because she heard Sabrea squeel with laughter. He let his wild little daughter go, and trotted back to a thin spot on the grass. He picked up a freshly killed gazelle and lumbered back to the entrance of the den with it.   
  
Kunda dropped the kill and called to Sabrea, who still hid in the grass, "Time to eat honey!" Sabrea apparently had been following Kunda close, and when he turned back to the kill, she leaped out and attempted to pounce him! Kunda let himself plop down the ground as though Sabrea had knocked him over by force.  
  
"You got me!" he roared with laughter. "I didn't even hear you!" Sabrea grinned in his face. Kunda sat up and said to her "You'll be a great hunter when you grow up." He smiled and licked her fur, getting a mouth full of grass seed.  
  
"Phff! Yuck!" Kunda spat out the grass seed. Sabrea's big grin remained. She crawled off her father and crouched by the gazelle ready to eat.   
  
"Sabby, see if you can bite into the gazelle," Kunda said with a mischievous grin. Cassea blinked and eyed her mate. Sabrea looked up at her father confusedly. "Just try it. See if you can get through the skin."   
  
Sabrea nodded, trying to act calm and serious. This was the first time her father had asked her to do such a thing, and she tried to treat it as a serious hunting lesson. But she could barely contain her excitement. She tried to do it in a quick movement like her parents did, so not to get full of blood. Sabrea's baby teeth and tiny claws sank in to the side of the gazelle, but nothing happened. She bit harder, and pushed against the animal with her tiny front paws.   
  
Sabrea's parents tried not to laugh as she got her back paws involved too. But she hung onto the skin of the gazelle's side tight with her little teeth. Sabrea was almost ready to give up, but she sank her teeth in tight one more time and pulled back with her head as she pushed with her paws. And the skin finally gave and tore open! Sabrea was so surprised that she let go with her teeth, and flew backwards, doing a summersault and rolling to a stop, landing upside down.  
  
Kunda roared with laughter, and even Cassea laughed. She walked to Sabrea to help her up, but Sabrea jumped up on her own.  
  
"I did it dad, I did it!" she exclaimed, leaping over to the torn open gazelle and looking up to her father with pride.  
  
Kunda grinned, still laughing. "You sure did, Sabby." His look became full of pride. "I've never known a cub your age who could do something like that."  
  
"Lets eat," said Cassea with a pleasant smile. "We can gloat about our accomplishments later."   
  
The family feasted on the gazelle until there was nothing left. It wasn't a filling meal for the two adults, but Sabrea was so excited she ate until she was stuffed. Cassea and Kunda were finishing up the last bit of meat, when Sabrea asked:  
  
"When are you gonna take me out to hunt?"  
  
Both stopped. Cassea glanced and Kunda. "Soon, Sabrea, soon," Kunda said. "But you'll have to start slow if you're going to start earlier then most cubs."  
  
Sabrea looked up at him, her eyes literally glowing with hope. "You mean, I can start earlier then most cubs?" She flicked a bur and grass seed off her hind foot.   
  
"We'll have to see..." said Cassea, gathering Sabrea up with a paw. "Right now, you're getting a bath."  
  
Sabrea sighed with disgust, but she was to full and tired to fight her mother.   
  
The sun had begun to set on the savanna. The light began to fade, and the crickets began to sing their songs of the evening. It was a beautiful, clear, peaceful evening. Sabrea's voice again broke the silence.  
  
"Dad, how come we aren't in a pride?"   
  
Cassea glanced at her mate, continuing to bathe her daughter. Kunda moved a little closer to the two and said to Sabrea "Pride life isn't as nice as what we have."  
  
"But there would be other cubs in a pride to play with." Sabrea replied.  
  
"Let me tell you something about being in a pride, Sabrea." Kunda explained. "They share everything. They hunt together, sleep together, and the cubs play together. The pride lions don't know what it's like to have individuality. They don't do their own thinking. They think and do as they are told, and they don't know a world beyond that."  
  
Sabrea nodded, still looking puzzled.  
  
Kunda smiled. "They don't have the choices like we do. If we wanted to get up and leave, we could. We can do as we please, hunt as we please, and we keep the kills we work for. In a pride, you have to stay in the same place and often give up most of your kill for the more powerful members of the pride."  
  
Sabrea understood now, but her brow furrowed. "Why would anyone want to live like that?"   
  
"They don't have a choice," Kunda explained. "They learn to hunt as a team. They have a lot of trouble bringing down a kill completely on their own. They simply don't know self-reliance."  
  
"But is it really so bad to have help on a hunt?" Sabrea "I mean you could get bigger-Mom!" Cassea licked Sabrea's face as she had been talking. "I'm clean already!" Sabrea swatted her mother with a paw.   
  
"Ok, you're alright I guess." Cassea let Sabrea go. The cub journeyed closer to her father.  
  
The sun had set by now, and the family looked at the stars.  
  
Kunda thought for a moment, and answered her question. "No, it's not bad. But think if the pride was dispersed, or a member was cast out. They could not survive on their own."  
  
"I guess both sides have good stuff." Sabrea thought out loud. "But you have a better chance of surviving as a rogue."  
  
"Correct," Kunda answered.   
  
The 3 sat in silence for a while, looking at the stars, each thinking their own thoughts. Cassea made her thoughts known.   
  
"Time you get some sleep, Sabrea."  
  
"Awww mom..." Sabrea complained. But she yawned immediately afterwards. She tried to hide it with a cough.  
  
"I saw that, Sabby," Cassea smirked. She picked up her daughter and carried her in the den. Sabrea was tired, so she didn't put up a fuss over it. Her mother placed her in the back of the den, in a nest of soft, dried grasses. Cassea gave her cub a few licks to clean off the remaining grass seeds, and the cub was soon fast asleep.  
  
Cassea wandered back outside near her mate. She rubbed against his side as she walked up next to where he sat on his haunches.   
  
"The herds are returning to the lands, aren't they?" she inquired of her mate.  
  
"They are, in huge numbers. The Pridelands have a new king, who got rid of the huge hyena population. The lands are regaining their fertility," Kunda responded.  
  
"What a relief," Cassea said. "They were barren for so long. I was worried with a cub on the way, and such scarcity of food..."  
  
"It'll be alright now," Kunda said, nuzzling his love. "Did Sabrea fall asleep fast?"  
  
"She was out faster then usual. She did a lot of playing in that field today," Cassea said with a smile. "She managed to catch a field mouse."  
  
"Really," Kunda murmured. "She'll be quite the huntress when her time comes. I think starting her training early will be benificial."  
  
"Yes, just don't take it to fast or put her in danger," Cassea warned.  
  
"Of course not," Kunda confirmed. "But tell her to keep bringing in field mice if she can. It'll help her." He leaned towards Cassea with a serious look. "When she pounced me, I honestly didn't hear her creep up. Even in the grass."  
  
"Wow..." muttered Cassea.   
  
The couple sat close, each thinking with pride of their wonderfully talented daughter. Cassea nuzzled her mate happily, and he returned her nuzzle with a lick on the muzzle. She gave him a cute, yet seductive grin. Kunda raised an eyebrow. Cassea pushed him into the tall grass with a paw, and lay close to him. "Remember the first time I nuzzled you?" she whispered into his ear. Kunda nodded and made a soft purring noise.   
  
"We were so young back then..." he reminisced.  
  
Cassea giggled softly for a second. Kunda gave her an inquisitive look.  
  
"Oh, I was remembering when I told you that you would become a father."  
  
Kunda smirked. "You, of course, had to tell me when I was standing on the edge of the watering hole."  
  
Cassea snickered. The two lions nuzzled affectionately.  
  
"We should probably get back in," Cassea murmured, her muzzle partly buried in Kunda's thick, dark mane.   
  
"Yeah..." Kunda murmured back, while licking the back of Cassea's neck.   
  
They stopped and their eyes met for a brief moment. Then they rose, and walked together back into the den.  



	3. An Unexpected Turn

Chapter 3 : Spiraling Down  
  
Sabrea arrived back at the den in the heat of the day. Her father was obviously still out, and probably wouldn't return till early evening.   
  
The young cub collapsed in the entry of the den. She'd run a long way without stopping or ever looking back. The leopards clearly didn't chase her, but it was possible that they might track her later. But what did it matter?  
  
Sabrea knew what death was. She ate, and she knew what happened to her food. It was the way life was, and if you showed pity for your food or spared it's life, you went hungry. Kunda and Cassea had always taught her to respect all life though, and that it must be killed properly with little suffering.   
  
Once, a pack of hyenas had been feasting not far from the den. Sabrea had seen them briefly, and saw how they savagely attacked their prey, eating it alive and prolonging it's suffering indefinitely. That was what the leopards had done to Cassea. It was simply un-feline behavior, and something Sabrea could never fathom. She still couldn't accept reality. Her mother was dead, killed like the prey of a hyena, the most savage of the hunters.  
  
Where would life go from here? She couldn't even think of life without her mother.   
  
After a long time, a single tear slid from Sabrea's eye and soaked into her fur. And then another. The whole idea of being alone began to set in. Sure, she still had her father, but her life was forever changed. It was time for her to grow up, and leave cubhood behind, quickly. Among her sobbing, Sabrea vowed that some day, somehow, the leopards would pay for what they'd done. They would pay.  
  
~  
  
A shadow moved over Sabrea suddenly, and she woke up startled and leaped to the back of the den. It was evening now; she'd fallen asleep in her crying.   
  
"Sabby, relax, it's me," said the figure. Kunda, her father. Sabrea ran to him. "Where's mom?" he asked her. It was unlike Cassea to leave Sabrea alone in the den without being nearby.   
  
"She... she was attacked, by leopards," Sabrea stuttered.   
  
Kunda gasped, taken aback by such a response. "Where?" he demanded. "Where is she now?"  
  
"They let me go... and, and she was... still by the river..." Sabrea trailed off.   
  
"Sabrea stay here." Kunda said, and turned to leave.  
  
"No, dad. I'm coming with you."   
  
Kunda stopped dead in his tracks. He was in shock by the sudden news, and the command of his daughter. How could everything change so quickly?  
  
"Sabrea you can't," he began, "If they could hurt your mother, they could hurt me too."  
  
"I'd rather be taken by those leopards then starve here by myself." Sabrea snarled.  
  
"Stay here. I mean it." And Kunda took off at a pace Sabrea couldn't follow.   
  
He bounded over the open savanna and into the jungle, following the usual path they'd take. The scent of death permeated the air, only growing stronger as he made his way to the river. Leaves from overgrown plants slapped his face and sticks scratched his skin, but he was numb to it. He began to smell blood, like that of a fresh kill. As he rounded the final bend in the path, he was presented with a sight words could not describe.  
  
Kunda's mind went blank. In that instant he felt nothing. Spread out across the path was the remains of his one true love. He could tell it was Cassea only by the distinct golden spotted patches of fur remaining, unstained by blood. Any of her other traits were hidden in the mess of blood and entrails. She hardly looked feline. She'd been torn apart more savagely then any hyena's kills.   
  
Another scent wafted through the air, not of Cassea. He smelled the blood of another feline. A trail of blood painted the pathway and then turned into the depths of the jungle. Clearly another cat had been drug along the path, removed by its companions. Cassea had not gone without a fight.   
  
Emotions began creeping into Kunda's mind. Hatred, rage, sadness, depression... all rolled into one terrible feeling. He looked away.  
  
Kunda proceeded off the path and into the dense jungle a bit, and began digging. He wanted his love's body to rest in peace. The jungle floor was soft and wet and he could dig into it easily. The dried, caked ground of the open savanna was impossible to dig in. Kunda was able to make a deep enough grave soon. Carefully, he moved Cassea's remains and placed them into the grave. By now the fur on his face was soaked with tears, and the usually kind and proud lion was engulfed in a new kind of emotion; one he'd never felt before.   
  
After Cassea was buried, Kunda walked slowly back towards the den where his daughter awaited.   
  
Night had fallen on the savanna by the time the den was in sight. Kunda's head hung low. It was a cloudy night and there was little to light the way home. Home... it sure didn't feel like home anymore. His Cassea wasn't there.   
  
But yet, Sabrea was still there. She needed him. Kunda sighed deeply. How could he ever raise his daughter alone? The cub would have to give up all her freedoms. She couldn't play when she wanted, and she'd have to keep quiet and well hidden whenever Kunda was out hunting. He worried that Sabrea would become changed for life, and never be the bright, cheerful, intelligent cub that she was supposed to be.   
  
Sabrea had been waiting out in front of the cave. Being alone and outside was against the rules for the cub, but Kunda didn't have it in him to scold her.   
  
Sabrea's eyes followed Kunda's every move, until he finally looked directly at her. He shook his head.  
  
The lion heaved a sigh of depression, and lay down in the back of the cave to sleep. Sabrea crawled under his massive paw. Kunda fell into a shallow sleep quickly, but Sabrea couldn't sleep. She'd slept all day and was not tired.   
  
The young lioness carefully slunk out from under her father's paw and walked to the entrance of the cave. She considered her parent's orders of not leaving the den, but decided that sometimes the rules just don't apply.   
  
Sabrea didn't go far, just outside and up the rocky outcropping of which her family's cave was a part. There she sat quietly and looked up at the sky. The sky was filled with stars, some brighter then others. Off in the distant horizon was a large cloudbank slowly moving away from the savanna. As the tops of the clouds receded, a bright star with a gold tint was revealed. 


	4. Spiraling Down

Chapter 3 : Spiraling Down  
  
Sabrea arrived back at the den in the heat of the day. Her father was obviously still out, and probably wouldn't return till early evening.   
  
The young cub collapsed in the entry of the den. She'd run a long way without stopping or ever looking back. The leopards clearly didn't chase her, but it was possible that they might track her later. But what did it matter?  
  
Sabrea knew what death was. She ate, and she knew what happened to her food. It was the way life was, and if you showed pity for your food or spared it's life, you went hungry. Kunda and Cassea had always taught her to respect all life though, and that it must be killed properly with little suffering.   
  
Once, a pack of hyenas had been feasting not far from the den. Sabrea had seen them briefly, and saw how they savagely attacked their prey, eating it alive and prolonging it's suffering indefinitely. That was what the leopards had done to Cassea. It was simply un-feline behavior, and something Sabrea could never fathom. She still couldn't accept reality. Her mother was dead, killed like the prey of a hyena, the most savage of the hunters.  
  
Where would life go from here? She couldn't even think of life without her mother.   
  
After a long time, a single tear slid from Sabrea's eye and soaked into her fur. And then another. The whole idea of being alone began to set in. Sure, she still had her father, but her life was forever changed. It was time for her to grow up, and leave cubhood behind, quickly. Among her sobbing, Sabrea vowed that some day, somehow, the leopards would pay for what they'd done. They would pay.  
  
~  
  
A shadow moved over Sabrea suddenly, and she woke up startled and leaped to the back of the den. It was evening now; she'd fallen asleep in her crying.   
  
"Sabby, relax, it's me," said the figure. Kunda, her father. Sabrea ran to him. "Where's mom?" he asked her. It was unlike Cassea to leave Sabrea alone in the den without being nearby.   
  
"She... she was attacked, by leopards," Sabrea stuttered.   
  
Kunda gasped, taken aback by such a response. "Where?" he demanded. "Where is she now?"  
  
"They let me go... and, and she was... still by the rive..." Sabrea trailed off.   
  
"Sabrea stay here." Kunda said, and turned to leave.  
"No, dad. I'm coming with you."   
  
Kunda stopped dead in his tracks. He was in shock by the sudden news, and the command of his daughter. How could everything change so quickly?  
  
"Sabrea you can't," he began, "If they could hurt your mother, they could hurt me too."  
  
"I'd rather be taken by those leopards then starve here by myself." Sabrea snarled.  
  
"Stay here. I mean it." And Kunda took off at a pace Sabrea couldn't follow.   
  
He bounded over the open savanna and into the jungle, following the usual path they'd take. The scent of death permeated the air, only growing stronger as he made his way to the river. Leaves from overgrown plants slapped his face and sticks scratched his skin, but he was numb to it. He began to smell blood, like that of a fresh kill. As he rounded the final bend in the path, he was presented with a sight words could not describe.  
  
Kunda's mind went blank. In that instant he felt nothing. Spread out across the path was the remains of his one true love. He could tell it was Cassea only by the distinct golden spotted patches of fur remaining, unstained by blood. Any of her other traits were hidden in the mess of blood and entrails. She hardly looked feline. She'd been torn apart more savagely then any hyena's kills.   
  
Another scent wafted through the air, not of Cassea. He smelled the blood of another feline. A trail of blood painted the pathway and then turned into the depths of the jungle. Clearly another cat had been drug along the path, removed by its companions. Cassea had not gone without a fight.   
  
Emotions began creeping into Kunda's mind. Hatred, rage, sadness, depression... all rolled into one terrible feeling. He looked away.  
  
Kunda proceeded off the path and into the dense jungle a bit, and began digging. He wanted his love's body to rest in peace. The jungle floor was soft and wet and he could dig into it easily. The dried, caked ground of the open savanna was impossible to dig in. Kunda was able to make a deep enough grave soon. Carefully, he moved Cassea's remains and placed them into the grave. By now the fur on his face was soaked with tears, and the usually kind and proud lion was engulfed in a new kind of emotion; one he'd never felt before.   
  
After Cassea was buried, Kunda walked slowly back towards the den where his daughter awaited.   
  
Night had fallen on the savanna by the time the den was in sight. Kunda's head hung low. It was a cloudy night and there was little to light the way home. Home... it sure didn't feel like home anymore. His Cassea wasn't there.   
  
But yet, Sabrea was still there. She needed him. Kunda sighed deeply. How could he ever raise his daughter alone? The cub would have to give up all her freedoms. She couldn't play when she wanted, and she'd have to keep quiet and well hidden whenever Kunda was out hunting. He worried that Sabrea would become changed for life, and never be the bright, cheerful, intelligent cub that she was supposed to be.   
  
Sabrea had been waiting out in front of the cave. Being alone and outside was against the rules for the cub, but Kunda didn't have it in him to scold her.   
  
Sabrea's eyes followed Kunda's every move, until he finally looked directly at her. He shook his head.  
  
The lion heaved a sigh of depression, and lay down in the back of the cave to sleep. Sabrea crawled under his massive paw. Kunda fell into a shallow sleep quickly, but Sabrea couldn't sleep. She'd slept all day and was not tired.   
  
The young lioness carefully slunk out from under her father's paw and walked to the entrance of the cave. She considered her parent's orders of not leaving the den, but decided that sometimes the rules just don't apply.   
  
Sabrea didn't go far, just outside and up the rocky outcropping of which her family's cave was a part. There she sat quietly and looked up at the sky. The sky was filled with stars, some brighter then others. Off in the distant horizon was a large cloudbank slowly moving away from the savanna. As the tops of the clouds receded, a bright star with a gold tint was revealed.   



	5. Forgiveness

Chapter 4 : Forgiveness   
  
Kunda never knew Sabrea had been out briefly. The next day he felt too ill to hunt. Eating today wasn't really necessary, but he would have to hunt the next day. However, he decided to get a drink at the waterhole in hopes of feeling slightly better.  
  
Sabrea was finally settled down after a sleepless night, and Kunda decided he could leave for just a few minutes.   
  
There were few animals drinking at the waterhole. The dry season was approaching, and the water had become rather muddy. One wrong move and one could easily be stuck in the mud where death was certain. Kunda made it out to the clearer water by walking carefully on rocks and not stepping in the mud. He began lapping up the water.  
  
A young leopard was in the process of trying to get to the clear water also. Kunda paid little attention to him at first, however after he'd nearly finished his drink, the scent of the leopard became familiar.   
  
Kunda glared at the unknowing leopard. "You..." He snarled in the leopard's direction.  
  
The spotted cat looked up. Kunda saw the traits immediately. Blue-green eyes, black tuft of a mane... an adolescent Kitisho leopard. He looked at the lion menacingly. "What?" he spat out, slowly.  
  
"You and your kind... you murderers!" Kunda accused.  
  
The young leopard backed away, setting his feet on the rocks carefully so not to step in the mud. Kunda snarled at him and approached quicker. The leopard's hind paw slipped off the rock it was on and he stepped into the mud. The sudden slip threw off his balance and he fell completely. He attempted to get up and keep moving away from the angered lion, but he was stuck fast in the mud. Even if he freed himself, he wouldn't be able to outrun the great cat being covered in mud.  
  
"Ok, ok! I give up!" the leopard cried out. He bowed his head, waiting for death. But it did not come.   
  
The spotted cat opened one eye and looked up at the lion slowly. He was glaring at him. "First, I want an explanation. Why was she killed?"  
  
The leopard looked down, and said quietly, "My father's orders. I don't know who she was."  
  
The lion crouched down and looked directly at the leopard's eyes. "Are you sure you know nothing?" he asked slowly.  
  
The leopard looked away, unable to stand the pressure of the interrogation. "Yes! I don't know why my father made us kill so much! He never told us anything! I'm supposed to be the new leader of the Kitisho but I left!"  
  
Kunda was taken aback. "New leader?" he inquired.  
  
"My father was killed. That leopard-lioness killed him. I'm the oldest; I'm the new leader. But I tried to disband the Kitishos. So I left. I don't want to be one of them anymore."   
  
Kunda considered what the leopard had said for a moment. "And how did the cub escape?"  
  
"I let her go and told my brothers not to chase her."  
  
The lion stared at him coldly. "Why?" he asked, in a deep, menacing voice.  
  
"I don't know! I didn't want to kill her! I didn't even assist in the killing of the other one!"   
  
Kunda moved quickly and grabbed the nape of the leopard's neck. The cat gasped, expecting his life to end in a snap. But the lion only dragged him out of the mud and onto the hard, caked ground. The leopard righted himself, and sat there, cowering, not knowing what to expect.   
  
"What's your name?"  
  
A simple question was definitely what the leopard least expected. "Razuma," he answered quietly.  
  
"Well, Razuma, I want to thank you."  
  
Razuma's eyes rose curiously to meet those of Kunda.  
  
"You saved my daughter. And you have turned from your ways. I commend you for it."  
  
"I don't deserve your forgiveness. I turned too late," said the leopard humbly.   
  
"Pick your fights and live with forgiveness," Kunda murmured. "It's something my father taught me."  
  
"I'm grateful for it." Razuma began to stand for the first time. "Your forgiveness I mean..."  
  
"I'm sure you never heard that from your father."  
  
Razuma was a bit taken aback. "Well... no. Not from him any way."  
  
Kunda stared off for a moment. "Go clean that mud off before it hardens." And with that, he turned and departed.  
  
*  
  
Kunda returned to the cave, finding Sabrea restlessly pawing through the nest of dry grass on the dirt floor. She looked up at her father as his shadow blocked out her light.  
  
"I'm sorry you have to stay hidden in here all day, Sabby," he said.  
  
"I understand." Sabrea replied. She stared at her paws as though they were suddenly more fascinating then anything in the world.  
  
Kunda sighed. He didn't want his little daughter to have to understand yet. She was young. She was supposed to give into her desires of playing and enjoying her life. Instead, she'd met the cold hard reality of death and the dangers of the world before her time. Kunda feared that she might never be the same cheerfully happy cub she'd always been.   
"Would you like to go for a walk?"  
  
Sabrea looked back up, and shook her head. "I want to just stay in here."  
  
Kunda bit his lip. Now she was probably afraid to go out walking after what had become of her last walk.  
  
"Would you like to just get some fresh air then?" He tried again. "Just outside the den... for a few minutes at least?"  
  
"I guess," Sabrea mumbled. She followed her father out of the den. The afternoon had reached it's peak, and the light was beginning to fade, and the evening breezes picked up. Sabrea and her father stayed outside until the sun began to set. They did not speak a word, but it was not an uncomfortable silence. The stars began to take place in the night sky, including the gold one of the previous evening.  
  
Sabrea watched it for several minutes. She broke the silence.  
  
"Have you ever seen that gold star, dad?"  
  
"Huh? What?" Kunda had been lost in his thoughts.  
  
"Up there, towards the highest hills. There's a gold star I haven't seen before."  
  
Kunda looked at the hills and followed them up. Sure enough, a brilliant star with a tint of gold shone down on them. He and his family spent plenty of time stargazing in the past. Surely he would have noticed it before then. But he hadn't. It was new.  
  
After studying the star for a few moments, Kunda answered, "No, Sabby, I've never seen that one."  
  
"Oh."   
  
The two cats stared at the star until the last light of the sun glowing on the horizon ceased. They said nothing, as no words needed to be said. 


End file.
